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The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
"Neivs from Next Door"
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
THE WALK TO D'FEETALS
WILL BE HELD SATURDAY.
Walkers will register between 8-9 a.m.
at Perquimans High School. For more
information, call Helen Hunter at 426-7998.
2 3 2009
Town to Cole to replace Parker on Superior Court
consider Cole has been district court judge since ’94
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
Hertford council members
wiU consider next month
whether or not to hire an ac
counting firm to audit the
town’s water, sewer and elec
tric bills sent to individual
customers.
Town Manager John Chris
tensen said the certified pub
lic accounting firm of Pit-
tard Perry & Crone, Inc. has
submitted a proposal to audit
individual bUls, recalculate a
percentage of the bUls, review
write-offs, analyze consump
tion compared to billing, re
view deposits, and review cut
off procedures.
The firm wUl do the work
for $5,000 or less.
Christensen said council
win consider the proposal at
its Oct. 12 meeting.
The proposal is the result of
the council members’ concern
over citizens’ perception of
utility billing irregidarities.
Over the past few weeks, citi
zens have complained about
the high cost of utility bills in
Hertford. Several citizens had
their electricity cut off for non
payment.
Black citizens have also
voiced concerns that they be
lieve white citizens living in
larger homes pay less for utili
ties than black customers liv
ing in smaller homes.
Christensen and town coun
cil members have said all
town customers pay the same
residential rate; only the us
age amount changes.
Council member Anne
White suggested the town
initiate some type of inves
tigation into how people are
billed for utilities in an effort
to clear any misconception by
citizens.
“When they talk about white
bills different from black bUls,
that becomes a civU rights al
legation,” she added. “We’re
dealing with people’s percep
tion here. We need to find out
just what the problem is.”
Vice Mayor Horace Reid
said he believes part of the
problem is that citizens need
to look at what terms they are
using when they compare in
dividual bUls.
“Their utUity biU and their
electricity charge are two
different things,” he pointed
out. Some people may have
compared utUity bUls (which
include electricity, sewer and
See AUDIT on Page 9
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 84 Low: 66
Isolated
Thunderstorms
Friday
High: 80 Low: 65
Showers
Saturday
High: 80 Low: 62
Scattered
Thunderstorms
47143
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Longtime
District Court Judge J. Carl
ton “J.C.” Cole of Hertford has
been appointed to replace Su
perior Court Judge J. Richard
Parker, who wUl be stepping
down early at the end of this
month.
Gov. Bev Perdue announced
Cole’s appointment on Mon
day He officiaUy takes his seat
on the Superior Court bench
on Oct. 1.
“Judge Cole is a person of
the highest integrity, highly
disciplined, and a gifted in
dividual,” Perdue said in a
statement. “His years of ex
perience on the District Court
bench have prepared him weU
for the Superior Court.”
Cole, who has been a Dis
trict Court judge since 1994,
caUed the appointment “awe
some.”
“I am very humble,” Cole
said. “1 look forward to con
tinuing to serve the great
people I have been fortunate
to work with these past 15
years.”
Former Gov. Jim Hunt ap
pointed Cole to the District
Court bench in the 1st Judicial
District in 1994. He replaced
his wife, Janice Cole, who had
been both the first woman and
the first African-American to
serve as a judge in the 1st Dis
trict.
Prior to his appointment
to the^ bench, J.C. (Dole had a
law practice in Hertford. He
also had worked as a licensed
private investigator and U.S.
postal inspector.
Cole earned an undergradu
ate degree in mathematics at
Livingstone College in Salis
bury and a master’s degree
in criminal justice from Long
Island University in Brook
lyn, New York. He received
his law degree from North
Carolina Central University
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Gov. Bev Perdue announced District Court Judge J. Carlton “J.C.” Cole’s
appointment on Monday. He officially takes his seat on the Superior
See COLE on Page 9 Court bench on Oct. 1.
Community steps up
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY PHOTOS BY CATHY WILSON
The folks at Woodville Pentecostal Holiness Church provided the goodies during a bake sale Saturday to benefit cancer patient Elton
Baccus and his family. Baccus was diagnosed in August with mesothelioma and had his right lung removed two weeks ago at Duke
.University Hospital. Money raised Saturday by the Coastal Carolina Riders, the church, and other friends and family members, will help
fund the family’s frequent trips to Duke for extensive treatment.
Illness brings out support
for Baccus and his family
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
The community came to
gether Saturday to help one
of its own.
It’s not unusual to hold a
fund-raiser to help someone
in need. But Saturday, two
groups combined their ef
forts to host a dayJong se
ries of fundraisers to help
Elton Baccus, 65, a Perqui
mans County resident.
Family members say sur
geons removed his right
lung two weeks ago at Duke
University Hospital in Ra
leigh after being diagnosed
with mesothelioma in Au
gust. Mesothelioma is a
form of lung cancer caused
by asbestos. His treatment
will include radiation and
chemo, family members say,
which will require numer
ous trips to Raleigh. The
money raised will help the
family fund those trips.
Members of Coastal
Carolina Riders (CCR) and
Woodville Pentecostal Holi
ness Church (WPHC) filled
the parking lot at the Per
quimans County Recreation
Center with a motorcycle
poker run, car show, barbe-
Marilyn Baccus is hugged by a friend during Saturday’s fundraiser helping her husband Elton in his
battle to fight lung cancer. “This is overwhelming,” she said, fighting back tears as she saw the large
number of friends and family who came to the county recreation center to help her family.
cue, bake sales, raffles and a
50/50 drawing to raise mon
ey for a man who has given
much to others.
“He’s never been sick,
never smoked; in fact, he
and Marilyn (his wife) rode
with us on the July 4th run
to the mountains and he
had no symptoms at aU,”
said Marvin Fitzgerald, one
of the organizers who is a
member of CCR. “He started
losing weight and got fluid
in his lungs, and then was
diagnosed with lung cancer
in August. He’s always help
ing everyone else. Now it’s
time for us to help him. It’s
come full circle.”
Geri Owens said her
cousin worked at a shipyard
years ago, and was also a
carpenter and a car me
chanic in the past.
See BACCUS on Page 9
HlNl flu
mild to
moderate
- so far
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
If you think the Pandemic
HlNl flu (commonly known as
the Swine Flu) is not in your
commimity, think again.
Health officials say 95 per
cent of aU flu in the country
now is Pandemic HlNl flu.
“It’s here and it’s here to
stay,” Ashley Stoop with Al
bemarle Regional Health Ser
vices (ARHS) told Hertford
council members recently
So far, flu cases have been
termed mild to moderate in
severity, she said, but that can
change radically. Severity is
based on the number of hospi
talizations and deaths associ
ated with the filness.
“We just don’t know,” said
Stoop. “We don’t know what it
will do this fall. It might stay
like this, or it could get worse.
It may get complicated this
fan when the seasonal flu hits
toot”
Nationwide, health officials
are neither testing for the vi
rus nor tracking the number
See FLU on Page 9
Man is
beaten
with bat
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
A 21-year-old Hertford man
was injured last week when
he was beaten with a baseball
bat in the parking lot of a lo
cal convenience store.
Chief Joe Amos with the
Hertford Police Department
said Billy Bundy, of 617 New
Hope Road, was hit in the head
with a baseball bat around
9:30 p.m. Sept. 14 outside Park
N Shop located on Harvey
Point Road. Bundy was taken
to Albemarle Health with in-
jimies to his head by Perqui
mans EMS, Amos said.
Officer Josh Turpin was
the first officer on the scene.
Police said Bundy knew his
assailants and the beating
was the result of an ongoing
dispute between the people
involved.
As of Monday, no one had
been arrested in connection
with the incident. Investiga
tion is continuing.